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Electronic Highways
Truckin' along on the "Electronic Highways"
The first "Electronic Highways" column appeared in the March 4, 1993 Reporter. Ten long (or short) years ago. The funny thing is that my co-creator, Loss Pequeno Glazier, and I knew we would never run out of material. Ann Whitcher, editor of the Reporter at the time, knew it too. When we presented her with a list of 15 or so sample column titles, she shook her head and said, "This is really just the beginning, isn't it?" Smart woman, Ann. No publications, other than a very few computer magazines, had regular columns devoted to the Internet in early 1993.
Our first paragraph read: "Explore the newest electronic avenue for scholarly communication and research. The Internet, the worldwide "networks of networks," connects thousands of computers and provides electronic mail communication, as well as access to a nearly inexhaustible number of other resources." Now the Internet links millions of computers and the resources are inexhaustible, as there aren't enough hours in a lifetime to connect to them all.
In our April 15, 1993 column, "UB's CWIS: A New Cooperative Venture," we excitedly announced the development of UB's Campus-Wide Information System, to be unveiled in the fall 1993 semester. We had no idea that the CWIS actually would debut as UB Wings, when the question of the day became, "Why surf when you can fly?" Although the term "surfing the Internet" had taken hold, we actually were "gophering." In fact, in October 1993, we announced an "electronic mail" course where participants would learn about "the power of Gopher" and how to search "Gopherspace" using the program Veronica. Remember her?
Of course, it took the World Wide Web to make the Internet truly accessible. We first referred to the Web in the Oct. 27, 1994 column entitled "Faces of the Net." We were especially thrilled to describe the browser "Mosaic" because of its graphical interface where one might actually see a photograph on the screen. (This was truly heady stuff.) In our very next column, "Get Caught in the Postmodern Web" (Nov. 3, 1994), we listed our first http Web address: http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/pmc/contents.all.html. On a whim, I just entered it into my browser (not Mosaic!) and to my amazement, it still works.
Many members of the UB community first learned about Yahoo! in our May 4, 1995 column. Of course, using a Web search engine/directory was not an everyday activity in those days. As we noted, "The semester is winding down and you just might find some time for exploring the Internet." We were most impressed by its "nearly 40,000 entries" and its long-gone, "random link" feature. And, we couldn't resist noting that Yahoo was the acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle."
Web homepages were flourishing by the fall 1995 semester, both on this campus and beyond; every subject imaginable had Web coverage. UB Wings moved beyond its Gopher phase and became an actual Web site as announced in our Aug. 31, 1995 column. And, we proudly proclaimed on Sept. 7, 1995 that the UB Libraries Web was available for searching as a "virtual library." (And still is at http://ublib.buffalo.edu)
About this time, it became evident we needed the assistance of our University Libraries colleagues to provide a guide to the "best of the best" Web sources for the UB community. Sincerest thanks goes to the following who have been regular or guest contributors to this space through the years: Judy Adams-Volpe, Brenda Battleson, Jennifer Behrens, Austin Booth, Stewart Brower, Lara Bushallow, Nina Cascio, Charlie D'Aniello, Don Hartman, Will Hepfer, Ed Herman, Deborah Koshinsky, Michelle LaVoie, Rick McRae, Sue Neumeister, Nancy Schiller, Cindy Seitz, Fred Stoss, Laura Taddeo, Cynthia Tysick, Susana Tejada, Ben Wagner and Lori Widzinski.
As of this writing UB librarians have contribute almost 300 columns. (296, actually, but who's counting?) It's been fun encouraging others to surf, gopher or fly as the Internet developed into an integral part of our lives. Happy Birthday to us, and here's to passing many more mile markers on the electronic highway!
—Gemma DeVinney, University Libraries